House committee approves defense bill

The House Armed Services Committee passed a nearly $612 billion defense policy bill early Thursday that seeks to change military retirement benefits and would keep the A-10 flying even though the Pentagon wants to retire the attack jet.

The vote was 60 to 2. The measure will be taken up by the full House next month.

Aside from taking breaks to handle other House business and attend the Japanese prime minister's address to a joint meeting of Congress, the committee worked amendment-by-amendment for more than 18 hours. The panel of sleepy-eyed lawmakers adjourned their marathon session at 4:39 a.m.

The committee agreed to move forward with military retirement reforms suggested earlier this year by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission. Some lawmakers had suggested waiting until more research could be done on the impact of the reforms, especially since they are not to take effect until 2017. Others pushed to move ahead, saying there always would be some reason to delay.

Recommended changes to the retirement benefits would mirror what has gone on in the federal government and private industry. Military members could continue to get their defined pension benefit, but they could also enroll in a thrift savings plan, like a 401(k), that would include some matching contributions from the government. The change would allow troops to receive a least some retirement pay even if they don't stay on for 20 years, the minimum length of service required to receive a pension.

The bill authorizes $515 billion in spending for national defense and another $89.2 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations for a total of $604.2 billion. Another $7.7 billion is mandatory defense spending that doesn't get authorized by Congress. That means the bill would provide the entire $611.9 billion desired by the president.

The committee is skirting automatic spending caps -- or sequestration -- imposed by Congress in 2011 by increasing the emergency war-fighting fund, which is not affected by the caps. President Barack Obama says the committee is using a budget "gimmick" to increase defense spending while failing to reverse sequestration.

Other highlights:

--STRIKE FIGHTERS: Despite a challenge from Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., the panel rejected a plan to take money from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and give it to the National Guard and Reserve. The bill authorizes six additional F-35Bs for the Marines and 12 more F-18s for the Navy.

--EAST COAST MISSILE DEFENSE: Even though the Pentagon doesn't think it's needed, the committee set aside $30 million for planning, designing and constructing what would be a multibillion-dollar missile battery on the East Coast. There already are ones in California and Alaska to counter the threat of missiles that might be launched at the U.S. from North Korea or Iran.